Applications are now open for the 2026 Artist in Residence program at AOOA Farm, the regenerative silvopasture and education center in Goshen that has become an increasingly visible site for creative work grounded in ecology and place. Now in its fourth year, the residency invites artists ages 18 and older to engage with the evolving relationship between art, nature, and sustainable agriculture, with applications due February 15.
Running from April through October, the program is structured around weekly visits rather than a full-time retreat, allowing artists to integrate farm-based inquiry into their existing practices. Participants develop work inspired by AOOA’s 14-acre landscape, which includes silvopasture fields, thousands of trees, vegetable gardens, an apiary, karakul sheep, heritage-breed chickens, and a small constellation of resident animals—including Bilou Bilou, a Toulouse goose who has become the farm’s unofficial mascot.
The residency emphasizes responsiveness over prescription. Artists are encouraged to work with seasonal rhythms, regenerative farming practices, and the material realities of an active agricultural site. For many, the environment itself becomes both subject and collaborator. “There were so many natural materials available on the farm to use in my artmaking,” says 2024 resident Jenny Torino. “I was thankful that there was flexibility in the residency to allow for experimentation.”
Another recent participant, Eileen MacAvery Kane, describes the experience in similarly expansive terms. “The residency was a sanctuary—a place for escape, creation, and exploration,” she says. “Each piece I created at AOOA Farm holds vivid memories of its magic.”
Community engagement is central to the program’s structure. Artists lead public workshops throughout the season and present their work in two exhibitions: a mid-season showcase during Upstate Art Weekend in June and a final exhibition in October. Both offer opportunities for artists to sell work and connect directly with visitors, positioning the residency as a porous exchange rather than a closed studio model.
AOOA Farm is operated by the D’Artagnan Foundation and was founded in 2021 by Ariane Daguin and her daughter, Alix Daguin. Its name draws from the collectivist ethos popularized by Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, reflecting a mission rooted in shared responsibility—to land, to community, and to future systems of care.
For artists seeking a residency that privileges sustained attention to place over isolation, AOOA offers a grounded, season-long model where creative practice unfolds alongside the work of the farm.
